


because of you i am now me

by rileynoah



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, F/F, Multi, Polyamory, Red String of Fate, or my play on it at least
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-19
Updated: 2018-08-22
Packaged: 2019-06-12 16:52:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 11,391
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15344247
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rileynoah/pseuds/rileynoah
Summary: “Can you tell me about the strings?”Kara watches the contemplative stillness in Alex’s face until she takes a deep breath in.The strings.And breathes out.“Sure, Kara.”





	1. the strings

**Author's Note:**

> So a while ago i asked on tumblr for someone to send me a random prompt for a ship and i would force myself to write it. What started as something intended to be short and sweet is now... much longer. I’m posting the first scene to sort of gauge interest and see if people want me to write more. It’ll be endgame director sanvers if i continue. Let me know in the comments fam.

“Alex?”

Kara’s voice is so soft it barely breaks the silence of the room. The house is still, the sound of the waves crashing onto the beach only just reaching her ears.

“Yeah, Kara?”

Kara moves slightly, rustling the sheets on her bed.

“Can you tell me about the strings?”

Kara watches the contemplative stillness in Alex’s face until she takes a deep breath in.

The strings.

And breathes out.

“Sure, Kara.”

Alex sits up, shuffling back to lean against the headboard. She crosses her legs and smiles in the direction of Kara’s bed, beckoning her over. The moonlight barely allows her to make out Kara’s silhouette, but she knows that Kara can see her gesture clearly.

The mattress dips and creaks as Kara climbs onto the bed, legs crossed and facing Alex. She can see Kara now, pajamas slightly askew. 

“Where did they come from?” Kara asks, and Alex is grateful for the starting point.

“We don’t really know.” Alex shrugs. “For as long as history has been recorded, they’ve always been here.”

Kara frowns. Her eyes drop to her hands fiddling with the leg of her pants. She wiggles her fingers, the string between them fluttering gently.

“Why do you think Krypton didn’t have them?’

Alex frowns then, wiggling her fingers in return. 

“I don’t know. Maybe it has something to do with Earth.”

Kara huffs, and Alex understands her frustration. It’s the same frustration she had felt when she had asked her mother these questions, only to receive the same vague answers.

After growing quiet, Kara looks up.

“Can you tell me about your strings?”

Alex swallows. “My strings?”

Kara nods.

Glancing down at her hand, she sighs. Then she nods.

“Okay.”

—-

Jeremiah’s had felt like warmth and happiness. It felt like catching the perfect wave back to shore to find a towel and a warm hug waiting for her. It felt like hitting her first home run in junior league softball.

It was bright and vibrant yellow, like the sun. Or Ms Jefferson’s Volkswagen Beetle in the yard down the street.

—-

“What did it feel like… when-“ Kara cuts herself off.

“When he died?” Alex finishes for her.

Kara nods.

Alex blinks.

“Like I was dying too.”

—-

Eliza’s was… softer. Softer than Jeremiah’s, but no less warm. It was cozy and comforting, like watching Saturday morning cartoons wrapped in her comforter. It was sweet like the waffles and honey she would make for Alex those mornings. 

It was yellow too, but not quite as bright. More like a daffodil, flowering in the sun. Or the bumblebee’s stripe, sitting gently on it’s petal.

—-

“Was...?” Kara asks gently.

Alex looks down at the frayed and tattered string, woven with black and stretching through the far wall of their bedroom. No longer bright and warm. She shakes her head, and Kara understands the dismissal. 

“Yellow,” Kara murmurs. “is for family?”

Alex nods.

“But ours is blue as well.”

“Yeah.”

“What does blue mean?”

Strawberry blonde hair and soft brown freckles flash behind Alex’s eyes.

“Blue is for friendship.”

Kara nods slowly. “Like Vicky?”

“Yeah…” Alex nods. “Like Vicky.”

—-

Vicky’s was excitement. It was jumping the fence and skipping fourth period to surf instead. It was horror movies in the basement and popcorn fights before bed.

It was blue like the sea, or like a blue jolly rancher. The ones that Vicky always thought were gross.

—-

“She’s not your friend anymore?”

Alex shakes her head.

“Because of me?”

Alex winces, reaching out to grasp Kara’s hand.

“No, Kar.” Alex promises. “We were already growing apart long before you arrived.”

Kara nods, but keeps her eyes on her lap.

“Besides,” Alex draws Kara’s face up with a finger on her chin. “I’ve got my best friend right here.”

Kara smiles, and squeezes her hand gratefully. Silence falls around them again, for a moment.

“What about…” Kara trails off, unsure.

“What about what?”

“Love...”

“Love?”

Kara nods, brow furrowed.

“Um…” Alex swallows. “Love is red.”

“Is it like the other strings?”

Alex shakes her head. “No, you can’t build that kind of string.”

“How does it happen, then?”

Alex shrugs. “It just… does.”

—-

Eliza and Jeremiah had a red string. Alex knows because she had asked after one of her friends at school at told her about them. She had shown up at school and told them all about how her brother had met his fated over the summer.

“Soulmates.” Eliza had called it.

A soulmate bond was different. You couldn’t build it, it would just appear. When you first touched your soulmate, the string would form in a bright flash to connect to two of you together.

Alex had only seen it happen once, in middle school. One of her friends had introduced herself to the new boy in class. Nobody else could see the flash, but the excited shouts had clued the rest of their classmates in.

—-

“It just… happens.” Kara frowns.

“Yeah.”

“But only the red strings.”

“No, all the colours can just happen. Red is just the only one you can’t build.”

“And the strings that just happen, you called them…” 

“Fated.”

Kara takes a deep breath. “Earth is weird.”

“Yeah.” Alex smiles. “I know, kid.”


	2. blue strings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “What, too much information?” Lucy teases. She tugs on the blue string that suspends between them. “I thought we were friends, Danvers.”
> 
> “Yeah, says the universe.” Alex grumbles under her breath, tugging the string back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here’s the next part, people seem interested in my dumb idea so it exists now. i’m Posting this as i write it so updates may be irregular but i promised an anon i’d Get there so im trying my best.

The report in front of her may as well be nonsense at this point. Alex is sure she’s read the same line over twenty times now, and it still won’t stick in her brain. She’s supposed to be going over security for the President’s visit, but they can’t until the Secret Service arrive to give input. What the Secret Service bring to the table in a room full of secret agent operatives she has no idea. But J’onn insisted, so they have to wait.

A balled up scrap of paper lands in her lap, and she frowns down at it. Then another hits her cheek. She glances up in time to see Lucy throw another one that hits her on the forehead. 

“What do you want?”

Lucy shoves off her desk, causing her chair to roll right over and crash into Alex’s. 

“I’m bored.” She whines, leaning her body over the arm of her chair to put her chin on the arm of Alex’s. “Entertain me.”

“Your job doesn’t entertain you enough, Director Lane?”

“Co-Director.” Lucy grumbles. “J’onn gets all the fun jobs and I have to do the paperwork.”

Alex smirks, throwing her report down and spinning to face Lucy properly. 

“And here I thought paperwork was one of your kinks.”

“I’m more of a restraints and edging kind of girl.”

Alex chokes on nothing, feeling her face flush red she turns and shoves her face back into the report she’s supposed to be reading.

“What, too much information?” Lucy teases. She tugs on the blue string that suspends between them. “I thought we were friends, Danvers.”

“Yeah, says the universe.” Alex grumbles under her breath, tugging the string back. The tugging really does nothing, it creates the feeling of being pulled for the other person but the strings aren’t physical, only able to be seen by those on either end. She remembers her Mom talking about feeling her father pull the string whilst on a work trip thousands of miles away. It helped her feel close to him while he was away.

“Fated friends are supposed to be the best of friends.” Lucy says, still pretending to be offended by Alex ignoring her. 

“Yeah well you’re more like a pain in my ass.” Alex snarks back, shooting Lucy a half hearted glare. 

“I can be.” Lucy perks up. “Let’s go spar, it’s way more interesting.”

“You want me to kick your ass?” Alex asks, turning to grin at Lucy, who’s own grin only widens in response. 

“The Secret Service have arrived, they’re waiting for us down by security.” J’onn walks past them, only pausing long enough to wave for them to follow. Alex glances at Lucy and rolls her eyes. She stands to follow J’onn, all plans of kicking Lucy’s ass unfortunately put on hold.

The tour with the Secret Service agents takes far longer than Alex would like. Long enough that she no longer has time to spar. Once the security measures are in place, J’onn sends her off to get changed into something less black-ops and more Federal Agent so she can accompany the Secret Service to the airport. 

Lucy manages to laugh at her for about two seconds before J’onn sends her off to the changing rooms as well to accompany Alex and make she doesn’t ‘burn any bridges’.

“Hey!” Alex calls after J’onn, narrowing her eyes at his oh so innocent smile. 

“C’mon, Danvers.” Lucy drags her down the hall towards the changing room. “If we hurry we can take a sedan instead of piling in with the greenies.” 

They change quickly, and manage to snag the keys to the Audi, squabbling briefly over who gets to drive. Lucy ends up pulling rank on her, dangling the keys in the air teasingly, long enough for Alex to snatch them and make a short joke.

They bicker the entire way to the car, and then the entire way to the airport. And yes, Lucy Lane might be a royal pain in her ass, but god is Alex glad the universe decided that they should be friends. 

Lucy used to make her nervous like no one ever had before. Alex didn’t quite understand. Even now, months into their friendship, she has moments where she’s caught off guard by the way Lucy makes her feel. They’re the same sort of feelings that have kept Alex from having any real proper friendships aside from Kara. If the universe hadn’t given them a fated string, she’s not sure they would be as close as they were now.

The Airport is buzzing with activity. Secret Service, border patrol agents and DEO agents masquerading as Secret Service are all milling about the tarmac. Air Force One had already landed, about fifteen minutes prior, and was taxiing towards the terminal for the President to disembark. 

Kara flies down and lands with a flourish right by the media. She sends a dazzling grin towards them and Alex can hear Lucy snigger.

“Oh leave her alone, she’s excited.”

“It’s just amusing to know that most of this city thinks she’s some immeasurable badass when she’s fangirling this hard over the President.” Lucy giggles. Alex looks over at Kara. She’s bouncing on the balls of her feet and wringing her hands together, a big dopey grin on her face. Alex will admit it’s pretty cute. She likes seeing Kara this happy. She hasn’t really been as outgoing since she broke up with James to figure herself out. 

Air Force One finally taxis into position. As soon as it comes to a halt the airport staff jump into action, driving the stairs up to the aircraft and opening the door. Several Secret Service agents and staff members exit the plane before the President comes into view. Alex allows herself a quick smile when she sees Kara literally bouncing, but quickly snaps back into work mode. She only manages to scan about half of the crown when the first blast of heat vision lands.

She makes the briefest of eye contact with Kara, who jumps into action. She flies up and swoops the President to safety as Alex scrambles both Alpha and Beta teams to find the assailant. The crowds all scramble, and the chaos is enough for the assailant to slip away from them. When the tarmac is finally clear, they’re nowhere to be found.

It takes just under ten minutes to secure the crime scene. They cordon off the area and clear all staff from Air Force One, and the DEO forensic team arrives shortly afterwards to start bagging the evidence. It’s only then that Alex notices the lights flashing atop a police cruiser. 

She scans the scene again, and her eyes land on a plain clothed officer crouching down by the carpet, speaking to one of her forensic techs. She scans the crowd for Lucy, spotting her standing with Vasquez and speaking to the President. She’s going to have to deal with the cop herself.

Internally groaning about having to deal with the Local PD, she draws herself tall and stalks over.

“Hey, what the hell do you think you’re doing on my crime scene?”

The cop looks up at her, squinting in the afternoon sunlight and smirks. Actually _smirks._ Alex clenches her jaw, watching as the cop dusts off her pants and straightens up. She’s about three inches shorter than Alex, maybe an inch taller than Lucy.

“Anyone ever tell you all you feds sound the same?” The cop laughs. “It’s like you all watch the same bad movies at Quantico.”

Alex rolls her eyes. “Who are you?”

“Alright, no small talk then.” The cop rolls her eyes slightly as she reaches into her back pocket, pulling out her badge. She flashes it at Alex, a tight smile on her face.

“Detective Maggie Sawyer. NCPD Science Division.”

Science Division. Alex has never heard of it before. The cop goes on to explain what they do. Some new alien police force. Alex flashes her own badge before vaguely threatening Detective Sawyer to try and get her off the tarmac.

They snark back and forth for far too long, and Alex can feel eyes on her back as she steps into Maggie’s space and makes a quip about jurisdiction. Maggie stares her down for a tense few moments before backing away, shaking her head and smirking.

“See you ‘round, Danvers.” She mutters, turning to stalk back towards her cruiser. Annoyed that she’d managed to get the last word, Alex takes a moment to take a deep breath before she turns and stalks over to Lucy. She tells the forensic tech bagging evidence incorrectly off on her way past as well.

“What was that all about?” Lucy asks, eyes dancing dangerously. She glances between Alex and where the cop is climbing into her cruiser, one eyebrow raised. 

“Some local cop. Said she was part of a Science Division?” Alex tapers off, shaking her head. Lucy nods.

“They have one in Metropolis.”

“Wait, what?” Alex turns to Lucy, brow furrowed. Lucy nods again.

“They must have set it up when Supergirl showed up. I’m surprised it took us this long to run into them.” She supplies none too helpfully. Not even the Director knew about the new division of local PD touting themselves as alien police or whatever. Alex huffs. 

“Yeah well, whoever they are I don’t appreciate them just waltzing onto my crime scene.”

“I mean, they are the police. They’re generally allowed.” Lucy says, a teasing smile on her face. She knows full well how Alex feels about the local PD.

“Not my crime scenes.” Alex mutters She crosses her arms over her chest and does her best not to scowl. It’ll only spur Lucy on.

 _“Your_ crime scene, huh?”

“Oh, fuck off Lane.” She throws the statement over her shoulder, turning to stalk towards the car. The forensic techs were starting to pack up, no need to stay longer than necessary. Lucy follows after her, much to Alex’s chagrin, and continues to pester her the entire way back to the DEO.

“Keep this up, and I’m going to kick your ass in the sparring room.” Alex snaps when Lucy starts asking Alex whether she could pull off a leather jacket like the cop at the airport.

“Bring it, Danvers.”

* * *

By the time they arrive at the DEO, Winn has already managed to write a program to scan the city for radiation emitted by heat vision.

Alex stalks over to his desk, leaning over his shoulder and reading through his code. Her hands are clenched onto the top of his chair, and Winn retreats as far away as possible without actually getting out of the chair.

“Have you found him?”

“N-no. He-“ Winn starts, stuttering under Alex’s glare.

“Well, hurry up.” Alex snaps.

“Woah, Danvers. Take it down a notch.” Lucy tries to placate her. She’s about to ask what has her panties in a twist when Alex starts ranting.

“Can you believe that cop? _‘The airport is within my jurisdiction’._ Unbelievable.” She huffs, pacing the length of the control room and back. She shucks her blazer off roughly and dumps it over Vas’ empty chair. 

“She’s probably not wrong…” Lucy mutters. Alex shoots her a glare, still pacing angrily.

“It was a federal crime scene! And she thought her little police badge was going to trump the secret service? It’s the President, for fucks sake.”

“Why are you so worked up about this?” Lucy asks. Her eyebrows are raised in amusement and she earns herself another glare and a scoff. Before Alex can answer, though, a tip comes through the comms for a sighting of their missing alien.

“Storage facility down in the warehouse district.” Winn confirms, rattling off the address. Alex is already bolting for the change rooms to put her DEO gear back on. 

“You going to join her?” Winn asks. Lucy shakes her head. 

“Just scramble beta team to back her up, would you.” She orders, rubbing a hand over her eyes. The Danvers sisters would be the death of her one day. She leaves Winn to it, stalking off towards her city office with orders for him to call her when Beta team arrives on site so she can watch the breach. 

She barely gets a single page of paperwork done when Winn calls her back to command, Alex’s team closing in on the warehouse. 

The team breaches without waiting for an order, not willing to waste any time lest the alien get away. Lucy can see Alex leading the team through her 2IC’s helmet cam. Her own feed unavailable because, as usual, she isn’t wearing her own helmet.

Lucy walks forward and speaks into Winn’s comms. “Danvers, next time you go into the field without a helmet I’m going to glue it to your head.”

She think she hears Alex scoff, though she can’t be sure. Alex has a veritable rocket launcher perched on her shoulder, and her breath is coming in short pants.

They breach into the final room on the ground floor of the facility, and even on the grainy feed Lucy can make out a figure crouched on the ground towards the back of the room.

“Hands where I can see them!” Alex shouts, pausing a few yards from the individual, weapon at the ready. 

Lucy can’t help her short burst of laughter when the figure turns around. It’s the detective from the airport. She says something Lucy can’t quite hear, though she can definitely hear Alex’s angry sigh. 

“How the hell did you find this place?” Alex asks her, stalking closer. 

“I’m a detective, Agent Danvers. I detect.” 

Lucy can hear her now, and she sniggers. She already likes this girl. 

“Yeah, and secret service my ass.” The cop presses on. “You’re DEO aren’t you?”

“Ah, shit.” Lucy mutters, scowling and flipping Winn off when he giggles. Alex, to her merit, doesn’t confirm or deny the statement. She scoffs again, and passes her weapon off to one of the other agents. 

“You’re going to have to come with me.” Alex tells her, waving the detective forward.

“Gonna throw a bag over my head, Danvers?”

Lucy can _hear_ Alex’s eye roll.

“Just hurry up, Sawyer.”

* * *

Lucy doesn’t see Sawyer when Alex brings her in to sign the paperwork. But Alex is sure to find her not long after she leaves, barging into Lucy’s office without knocking and making a beeline for her bar fridge. 

“Can I help you, Danvers?”

Alex bangs scans the almost empty fridge with a scowl on your face. “Where do you hide your booze?”

Lucy stares her down, willing herself not to glance towards her hidden stash. 

“Well if you aren’t going to tell me, we’re going out for a drink.”

“It’s four in the afternoon, Alex.”

“Great, by the time we get there it’ll almost be happy hour.” Alex gestures for the door impatiently. Lucy rolls her eyes, but grabs her jacket and makes for the door.

Alex drags her to their regular bar, a little hole in the wall not far from the DEO. There are a few people milling around inside, a group of boys playing pool, and what looks like a group of corporate looking people getting drinks after work.

Alex nods her head towards the bar, and waves Lucy away to find them a table. She finds a booth roughly in the middle of the two groups and slides in. Alex returns with their drinks a moment later and slides in opposite.

“Are you still mad about that cop?” 

Alex rolls her eyes, taking a sip before she answers. “Did you hear her? She’s a Smart ass.”

“Mm, she has a _great_ ass too.”

Alex chokes on her beer slightly and glares. Lucy just smiles, unrepentant, in return. When Alex grabs a napkin to wipe away the beer dribbling down her chin, Lucy notices one of the guys from the group by the pool table looking over at Alex.

“There’s a cute guy sending looks your way, Danvers.”

Alex’s eyes widen comically, and she stiffens. She waits a few moments before glancing over her shoulder at the tall, handsome blond. He smiles shyly at her before dropping his gaze, turning his attention back to his friends.

“Yeah, no thanks.” Alex turns back, mouth turned downwards in a slight grimace. She rolls straight back into ranting about Detective Sawyer, complaining about her smart ass attitude. Lucy mostly pays attention, though the guy at the pool table continues to send looks their way.

“That guy is still trying to get your attention.”

Alex rolls her eyes. “I’m really not interested.”

Lucy grins , making suggestive eyes to the guy over Alex’s shoulder, wiggling her fingers in an equally suggestive wave.

Alex smacks Lucy’s hand down.

“Stop that!” She hisses. “You’re encouraging him.”

“Yes, well when you inevitably turn him down I wouldn’t mind a bite of that.”

“That’s gross.”

Lucy grins at Alex’s disgusted expression. Alex fidgets under Lucy’s intense attention, making Lucy grin wider.

“You think all men are gross.”

Alex frowns at her, opening her mouth to argue but then snapping it shut again. Probably remembering that her last date had been a fake one with Maxwell Lord. 

“See you can’t even argue.” Lucy exclaims. “When was the last time you even got laid?”

“Lucy!” Alex hisses.

“God, what about the last time you had an orgasm, even?” Lucy presses on, ignoring Alex’s glare. “You’re so uptight at work, I think I can take a guess.”

“It is _none_ of your business.”

“So… not recently then.” Lucy muses. “You know, I could help with that.”

“Luce, what the fuck?!” Alex splutters.

“What, I can totally schmooze that guy for you.”

She grins at Alex, and she stares back with an apprehensive, and just a slightly disbelieving look. 

“It’s not like it would work.” Alex mutters, only just loud enough for Lucy to hear, but she does hear it. She scrunches her nose up.

“Yeah, men can be really hit and miss with that.” She sighs. “Women tend to be much better.”

Alex chokes on a laugh, but when Lucy just raises her eyebrows, her eyes go wide.

“You aren’t kidding.”

“I am not.”

“You’ve slept with a woman?” Alex looks far too intrigued by that fact. Lucy’s theory may still be true yet. 

“Yes in fact I have.”

“Like… in a threesome?”

“Well, usually it’s just the two of us, but I’ve had a few of those as well.” Lucy gets an evil idea. “Though they rarely include a man.”

Alex stares in rapt confusion, torn between intrigue and her instinct to run away from whatever is going on in her brain. Lucy stares at her in silence until it’s clear that Alex isn’t going to answer. 

“Did… did you not know I’m bi?”

“What?”

Lucy quirks her lip. “Bisexual.”

“No. I know-“ Alex huffs. “I know what it means. Just… what?”

“You didn’t know?”

“No! Of course I didn’t know, you never told me!”

“You caught me making out with Vasquez!” 

Alex’s jaw drops. “You we’re _making out?!”_

“Yes!” Lucy laughs. “What did you think we were doing?”

“I don’t know!” Alex shrugs, hands gesturing wildly. “Being secretive about something?”

“Yeah, about making out!”

Alex’s face is flaming red. Whether she’s blushing about being just a little oblivious, or hearing about her two friends making out in a dark DEO supply closet, Lucy isn’t sure.

“Sorry, Alex.” Lucy says, sincerely.

“For what?” Alex chuckles, and Lucy can already tell she’s beating herself up for not noticing. “I’m the oblivious one.”

“For not telling you. I thought it was obvious. That you knew.” Lucy admits. “But I should have told you properly.”

Alex lets herself smile, just slightly. “It’s alright, Lucy.”

“Well, whether it is or not, the universe has dictated that we should be friends.” Lucy grins, wiggling her finger, and their blue string in tandem. “I’m glad you know now.”

“I am not glad that I now know you’ve been making out with Vasquez in dark closets.” Alex glares playfully. “How long has that been going on?”

“Only up until they met Erin.” Lucy raises her hands in a show of innocence.

“I don’t want anymore details.” Alex waves Lucy off, grimacing. 

Lucy rolls her eyes, flipping Alex off.

“Back to the point. He’s cute, why not give it a try?”

Alex sighs. “I… I just don’t want to bother. It’s never good, or fun.” Alex shrugs. 

Lucy takes a measured breath before she speaks, trying to make sure she doesn’t spook Alex.

“Have you tried exploring why that might be?”

“Well the universe has a built in ‘find-a-soulmate’ so what’s the point dating around if I’m not enjoying it? I’ll find him eventually.”

“I meant have you tried exploring why you might not like it.” Lucy replies, still just as cautious. “And you don’t seen very enthused about the idea of a soulmate.”

Alex shrugs, shifting uncomfortably and looking away. “Can’t we talk about something else?”

Lucy thinks about pushing it, for just a second, but she let’s it go. Alex looks like she may try to run if she goes any further. But before she can come up with a subject change, Alex’s phone starts ringing. Alex frowns as she swipes to answer the call.

“Danvers.”

The person on the other end of the call is muffled to Lucy’s ears, but distinctly feminine. Alex’s expression sours ever so slightly. 

“Send me the address, Sawyer.” Alex says into the phone before promptly hanging up.

“The cop?”

“Yeah, offered to give me her source. I’ve gotta run.” Alex downs the rest of her beer and stands, pulling her jacket back on. “I’ll see you tomorrow?”

Lucy smiles up at her, swallowing her slight disappointment about Alex having to leave. “Bright and early, Danvers.”

Alex grins. She throws a few notes down on the table before stalking towards the exit with a final wave back at Lucy. 

Lucy drops her head to the slightly sticky table. “She’s your friend.”

She gulps, looking down at the blue string attached to her finger.

* * *

She stays at the bar for a couple of hours, and she actually ends up drunkenly making out with the cute blond that had been making eyes at Alex in a bathroom stall. It’s messy, and when he invites her home she finds herself declining. 

She calls for an Uber, feeling a little too woozy to walk home. When she finally arrives on her floor, she rounds the corner to find Alex leaning on the door of her apartment, frowning down at her phone.

“Danvers, what are you doing here?” Lucy calls, trying not to sound too happy to see her. Or too drunk. 

“How much did you drink, Luce?” Alex’s frown is turned on her now. Lucy waves her hand, dismissing the question entirely as she digs around in her bag for her keys. Then the bag disappears. 

Alex has the door unlocked and is ushering Lucy inside before she can really comprehend what’s going on. Alex pushes her down onto the couch and disappears from view only to return a few moments later with a tall glass of water. 

“Din’t answer my question, ‘Lex.” Lucy yawns. In the warmth of her apartment, and the comfort of her couch, her mind suddenly starts feeling a lot foggier than it had out in the cold. 

“Doesn’t matter, just drink your water.” Alex dismisses her. But even drunk, Lucy can see the tension in Alex’s shoulders, and the very slight tremble to her hands. Alex had felt confident enough to seek her out, and Lucy wasn’t about to let a few too many drinks stop her from being Alex’s friend.

She forces herself upright, and drinks half the glass of water in a few gulps. Then she places the glass down on her coffee table and turns to Alex.

“Spill.”

“It’s fine, Luce. I’ll tuck you in and get out of your hair.”

“Nooooooo.” Lucy whines. “Spill. What happened with Sawyer?”

Alex makes a face that Lucy can’t quite decipher in her state. She waits patiently for Alex to gather her thoughts. Taking the opposite end of the couch, Alex runs a hand through her hair and sighs.

“She took me to a bar. For offworlders.”

Lucy nods. 

“You don’t seem surprised about that.”

Lucy nods again. “I knew that some existed.”

“Right. Yeah, well. I didn’t.” Alex continues. “And it kind of took me off guard. Almost pulled my gun on instinct.”

Lucy understands. She does. Alex has only ever really been trained that aliens (aside from her sister) are bad. It’s really only within the last year that they had all started learning otherwise. Lucy included. 

“Maggie caught me before I could.”

Maggie. Lucy feels a twinge in her stomach when Alex uses the detectives first name.

“We talked. She told me about how she knew the place, why she liked visiting.”

Lucy waits for Alex to continue, but she doesn’t.

“And…?”

The fog over Lucy’s brain had started to clear, and her senses start to pick up. Alex is hunched over, that she could already tell, but her shoulders are drawn and tight. Her elbows rest on her knees, and her hands are joined together between them. They twist together tightly, and Lucy wants to reach over to untangle them. She would, if she weren’t worried about spooking Alex.

Getting Alex to talk about her feelings was a bit like approaching a wild animal. You have to move slowly, and calmly. Any sudden movements, if you push too hard or if you don’t push enough, and she might flee. 

“The bartender there was her ex.” Alex mumbles. “A Roltikkon.”

Lucy doesn’t say anything. She doesn’t even move. She can tell Alex’s wheels are turning. Turning towards the door to run or turning to put together her next sentence, Lucy isn’t quite sure.

“She said she…” Alex swallows. “She said she could relate. To aliens. Being a non-white person from the Midwest. Being… uh, being-”

Alex shakes her head, Lucy thinks, at herself.

“So… are you bothered by her dating aliens? Or being gay?”

Alex looks up at Lucy sharply, eyes wide. “N-no. No, I’m not.”

Lucy smiles sympathetically. “I think you might be, Alex.”

Alex starts to protest.

“No, no. Hear me out.” She placates. 

Alex swallows, and nods for Lucy to continue.

“Everyone has prejudice, Alex. Even if you don’t want to. It’s ingrained in us from birth. I grew up in a xenophobic, and homophobic household. Being bisexual doesn’t automatically erase the prejudices I had because of that. I still catch myself being judgemental sometimes.”

Alex’s frown lessens slightly. Her lips quirk to the side, how they do when she’s deep in thought. Lucy smiles encouragingly at her.

“Now, whether it was the aliens, or the women, or whatever it was that threw you. It doesn’t make you a bad person. It just means you have a little more learning to do. Or unlearning, as it were.”

Alex nods thoughtfully, turning her gaze back down to her hands. Feeling Alex relax a little more, Lucy reaches out to untangle her hands. She weaves her fingers into Alex’s and squeezes. 

“Is there anything else you wanted to say?”

Alex pauses. She glances towards Lucy, but she never completely meets her eyes. Her gaze dances around the room, jumpy and unsettled.

“Uh… when did you know you were- um…”

“Bisexual?”

Alex swallows, but nods.

“I knew in high school. I dated a girl in senior year.”

Alex remains silent, and Lucy takes it as a request to continue.

“Her name was Amanda. We were really close friends, until she told me she liked me. It made me realise I liked her too.”

Alex is staring at her now, in rapt attention. Lucy smiles, keeping her gaze on the wall in front of her as she remembers. 

“We dated for about eight months. But when we graduated I was headed to the army, and she was going to Berkeley.”

“You didn’t stay together?”

Lucy shakes her head, and curses the tears that sting behind her eyes. Amanda was so many years ago, and yet she’s still disappointed. 

“Don’t ask don’t tell was still in place. I couldn’t risk being found out. I broke up with her just after graduation.”

“I’m sorry.” 

Lucy shakes her head, and smiles up at Alex.

“It’s alright. After the initial heartbreak, she understood.”

Alex looks away. 

Lucy steels herself to push a little harder than Alex might enjoy.

“Is there a reason you’re asking?”

As expected, Alex tenses up. But Lucy keeps a solid hold on her hand, keeps herself in a relaxed and open position to not scare her any further. 

“I’m not-“ Alex stutters. She waves her free hand awkwardly and curls even further in on herself. “It’s not like-”

“Hey, hey.” Lucy tries to calm her down. “It’s fine. You’re fine. I’m sorry for pushing.”

Alex releases a tiny bit of tension and refuses to meet Lucy’s eyes. 

“But I’m always here to talk if you want.”

“What- what about?” Alex asks nervously, and Lucy really needs to start teaching Alex a better poker face.

“About anything.”

Alex nods. She shifts awkwardly on the couch. With a glance towards the clock, she squeezes Alex’s hand one last time before letting it go to stand.

“It’s late. You wanna crash here?”

For a split second Alex looks like she might flee out the door, but she takes a deep breath and stands up as well, and she nods.

“As long as I get some of the blankets, cover hog.” Alex teases, and Lucy is glad to see her relaxed enough to tease again. 

Getting ready for bed is familiar. It’s comfortable. Lucy throws Alex the clothes she usually borrows for bed. Coincidentally the only pair of shorts that fit her and a shirt Lucy had originally stolen from James. They get dressed facing opposite walls of the bedroom, if Alex is a little more tense than usual Lucy doesn’t really notice. 

They brush their teeth standing side by side, and Lucy can’t truly squash the pang in her chest. The domesticity of the task hitting her right in her stupid feelings.

 _Friend. She’s your_ friend. 

Alex finishes before her, and stumbles tiredly back into the bedroom to collapse into bed. Lucy takes the extra moment to gather herself. She splashes some water on her face and frowns at herself in the mirror.

“Crush on your best friend. Really?”

Lucy shakes her head. Reduced to talking to herself in the mirror like she’s in high school. 

With another heaving sigh, she flicks off the lights and returns to the bedroom. Alex is already half passed out in the middle of the bed.

“Who’s the cover hog now?” Lucy jibes, crawling onto the bed to try and shove Alex over a bit. She grunts in disapproval, snuggling further into the pillows and refusing to budge.

“Alright well, hope you like cuddling then.” 

Lucy slips under the covers and settles into the bed. She refuses to acknowledge the fact that she’s not as far away from Alex as she could be, but the warmth of her body is comforting and Lucy mourns for the days she had a bed mate every night.

“Night Alex.”

A garbled response that sounds something like _‘goodnight’_ floats up from Alex, and a moment later her light snore picks up.

“Friend.” Lucy whispers to herself.

_Friend._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> -sprays silver on my mouth like the dudes from mad max- VALIDATE ME.


	3. new strings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alex discovers a new string

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it's hard to write a fanfic like this where you have to rehash a lot of what happened in canon, but adding Lucy in does change stuff up a bit so I hope it isn't too boring. sorry for the delay fam im hoping to have another chapter done in a week or two

Alex wakes up with Lucy curled into her side. It’s not unusual for them and it makes Alex feel warm and happy.

And that makes Alex terrified.

Thankfully, Lucy sleeps like the dead, and she manages to extract herself from the death grip Lucy has on her shirt and escape into the bathroom. She takes a moment to splash some water on her face and brush her teeth before slipping back past a still slumbering Lucy, through the living room and into the kitchen.

She starts the coffee maker before surveying the contents of the fridge. There is enough to scrape together some omelettes, and Alex sets to work.

When the smell of coffee starts to fill the apartment, Lucy starts to wake up. Eventually she appears, bleary eyed and not unlike a zombie, and makes her way into the kitchen.

She makes grabby hands at the coffee Alex is pouring.

“Get your own, Lane.” Alex scoffs, pulling her mug out of reach.

Lucy doesn’t say anything, choosing instead to pout up at Alex with her chin resting on the marble countertop. Alex stares her down for all of about five seconds before she caves. If anyone though Kara’s puppy eyes were bad they had never seen Lucy Lane’s first thing in the morning.

Alex gets a second mug from the cupboard and fills it almost to the brim, and places it down in front of Lucy, sticking her tongue out at Lucy.

“You in the desert today?” Alex asks after Lucy has consumed enough coffee to answer questions.

“City. J’onn has some budget stuff we need to go over. I’ll be at the city base until we catch our Kryptonian.”

Alex rolls her eyes. “We don’t even know he’s Kryptonian.”

“Your sister seems to think so.”

“My sister is getting her hopes up.” Alex grimaces. Lucy nods, and Alex knows she understands. The both of them are sceptics, whereas Kara tends to believe the best of people. She and Alex usually tend to balance each other out, but it had caused more than a few fights in the past as well.

Lucy mumbles something into her coffee.

“What was that?”

“Nothing.” Lucy waves her off, not quite meeting her eyes.

“Luce-“

“How are you feeling after last night?”

The sudden switch jars Alex, and she flounders.

“You- I, uh. Fine?”

“You don’t sound so sure of that.”

And Lucy is looking at her with that soft, worried look in her eye that makes Alex’s stomach flip out. Even more than it already was after waking up like she had.

“I’m fine, Luce.” Alex swallows. “We should get ready for work. I’ll give you a lift.”

Alex leaves her almost finished coffee on the counter and stalks back into the bedroom. She manages to gather her clothes up and escape into the bathroom before Lucy can catch up.

In the light of day Alex feels so much more vulnerable. So much less safe. In the dark, with Lucy a little tipsy and a little tired, it hadn’t seemed so scary. Hell, she’d hoped Lucy might not even remember it.

By the time Alex is dressed and ready to go, so is Lucy. Their trip down to the car is silent, and Alex feels a little bit of her tension fade away when Lucy doesn’t press her for anything more.

That’s one of the best and worst parts about Lucy. She can read Alex almost like a book and in times like this, she knows when to let Alex breathe. It’s something Kara isn’t great at, and the stupid warm feeling in her belly rears its ugly head when she thinks about how much Lucy cares about her.

Alex showers first, and then prepares two travel mugs of coffee while she waits for Lucy. She gets a groan of approval when Lucy meets her at the door that sends a shiver down her spine that she doesn’t want to even attempt to decipher.

Alex is perfectly fine pretending that her whole world isn’t turning up on it’s head at the moment, thank you very much.

The trip to work is mostly quiet, aside from some squabbling over who gets to choose the radio station.

Upon their arrival at work, Lucy has to very quickly retreat into a conference room to begin her budget meeting with J’onn and Washington. Alex is left to her work tracking the still missing Kryptonian running amok in National City.

* * *

Spending four hours in a room with J’onn and four stiffs from DC is the worst way Lucy could think of to spend her day. Luckily due to the missing alien, said stiffs had been unable to fly in for the meeting, so they had decided to go ahead and conduct it via phone. It meant that Lucy could make as many faces as she wants at J’onn while the men droned on about how the DEO was a money pit.

She’s just finished off her list of repairs that must be budgeted for after the alien had escaped holding when Alex bursts in.

“Agent Danvers.” J’onn says. Lucy can rarely tell if he is as unimpressed as he seems sometimes, but today he seems quite content with the disruption.

“We found him.”

Lucy shares a quick, communicative look with J’onn, and then jumps up from the desk and excuses herself quickly.

“Sorry gentlemen, we’ll have to finish this another time.”

J’onn rolls his eyes at her grin and waves her away. She just barely hears J’onn wrapping up the phone call as she races away. She quickly spots Alex making a beeline for the armoury.

“You’d better put your fucking helmet on, Danvers.” Lucy calls after her.

“No need.” Kara’s voice comes crackling through the coms. “I’ve got him.”

Alex frowns, and her lips turn down in a very slight pout.

“Oh, calm down trigger happy.” Lucy teases. “There’ll be another one tomorrow. This is National City.”

Alex scowls at her, and flips her off.

Kara flies the alien in a few moments later, throwing him straight into a cell and super speeding to the keypad to lock to the door. Alex and Lucy follow her in quickly, studying the alien passed out and thrown haphazardly on the bed inside the cell.

“Is he Kryptonian?” Alex asks.

“I’m not sure. We’ll find out when he wakes up.” Kara shrugs, though her frown stays in place.

“How did we find him?” Lucy chimes in.

Kara raises her eyebrows and looks over at Alex.

Alex almost looks sheepish. It’s not something Lucy thinks she’s ever seen before.

“Uhh, a tip from a contact at the bar Maggie took me to.” She admits with only a slight blush coming through on the tips of her ears.

“Why didn’t you tell me last night?” Lucy tries not to feel just a little hurt by Alex not telling her.

“It wasn’t really on my mind.” Alex mumbles. She’s steadfastly ignoring Kara’s curious gaze, focusing instead on Lucy. Her eyes are wide, imploring Lucy to understand.

“I had Winn start running scans as soon as I knew what we were looking for. It didn’t come through till just a little while ago.” Alex shrugs.

“It’s okay.” Lucy steps over to squeeze Alex’s bicep gently. She’s all too aware of the eyes on them at the moment. Several agents and custody staff are all present in the area, listening in.

Alex lets out a quiet sigh and the tension in her shoulders lessens slightly. Though she is still doing her best to ignore Kara’s now worried frown.

“I’m, um-“ Alex scratches the back of her neck awkwardly. “I’m going to go let Maggie know that we got him.”

With a final awkward smile, Alex stalks out with her head down. Lucy delivers some brief orders to the agent on custody management and escapes as well before Kara can question her.

She walks back into the control room to find Alex sitting at Vasquez’s desk and smiling down at her phone. Lucy steadfastly ignores her sharp pang in her gut.

“You tell Sawyer?” Lucy asks, against her better judgement. She’s far too curious to know what the hell Alex is smiling about.

Alex looks up, startled. She had been too engrossed in texted to have noticed Lucy approach.

“Uh, yeah.” Alex’s smile is much more genuine now than it had been only moments ago. “She says I owe her CI an apology though.”

Lucy rolls her eyes. “I don’t even want to know what you did.”

“She’s asking if we’ll be at the signing.”

Lucy forces a smile. “The DEO will have a presence there, yes.”

Alex glances at her from the side of her eye, before quickly averting her gaze.

“Yes, Agent Danvers. You will be leading Alpha team. But we’re non combative. Just there for support and as a watchful eye.”

Alex’s lips quirk into a smile. She types out another text message.

“Will Sawyer be joining you?”

Alex doesn’t even look up from her phone.

“Yeah she’s coming out to support, then heading to the bar to celebrate with some friends.”

Lucy nods. “Better get ready then. Streets, not uniform. We’re trying to keep a low profile.”

“Nothing is ever low profile with the Kryptonian Menace.” Alex snorts.

Lucy sighs. “I know. She’s like a puppy. But we have to try.”

Alex taps a final message into her phone before grinning at Lucy and traipsing off to get changed. Lucy watches her go, and tries not to grimace at the bounce in her step.

J’onn chooses that moment to reappear with a look on his face that Lucy really doesn’t like.

“No.”

“Sorry, Director Lane. Madam President would like a director on site for the signing.”

“So why don’t you go?”

“I am…” J’onn trails off, and Lucy can see hear his stupid smirk. “Unavailable.”

J’onn turns and leaves before Lucy can formulate a response.

“Unavailable my ass, J’onn J’onzz.” Lucy grumbles, knowing full well he can probably hear. But he just keeps walking.

Lucy groans, and turns to jog towards the locker room.

“Hey Alex, wait up!”

* * *

A quick scan of the crowd leads Lucy to believe that the majority of them are human, though she knows that presenting human doesn’t always mean that they are. She feels a little uneasy not being able to tell, but she identifies her father’s fingerprints all over that feeling and tries to shut it down as best she can, without compromising her attentiveness.

Alex stands at her side, back straight and eyes scanning. Out in the field she’s always tuned in, always turned on and ready for a threat at any moment. It’s one of the things that truly makes her an exceptional agent.

It’s also incredibly hot.

Lucy shakes herself free of that thought quickly. Though not as quickly as she really should have.

They’re all milling about, waiting for the President to arrive and begin the ceremony. The crowd feels tense but not in a bad way, more of an excited tone is the best way Lucy can describe it.

She’s completing another quick scan of the crowd when a vaguely familiar voice pipes up to her right, past Alex.

“Danvers!”

She can’t place where she knows it from before Alex answers her unasked question.

“Maggie, hey.”

Lucy fights the grimace that wants to make itself known on her face at the enthusiasm in Alex’s voice, and the use of Sawyer’s name. She can’t see Alex’s face properly, but Lucy can tell she’s smiling from the stretch of her cheeks.

At least she isn’t bouncing this time.

And Lucy feels gross about how unhappy Alex’s happiness is making her. The sick little goblin in her head saying it should be her is drowning out how she usually revels in Alex’s laughter, and Alex’s smile, and the way Alex bounces on her toes when she’s excited.

Lucy shakes herself out of that train of thought before it gets dangerous. She’s almost glad when Sawyer’s voice breaks into her reverie.

“Who’s this.”

“Maggie, meet Director Lane. Luce, this is Maggie.” Alex introduces them quickly, pointing at them each in turn at the relevant moments. Her smile looks a little nervous, and Lucy does her best to swallow her stupid crush and be nice to the new girl that has all of her _friend’s_ attention.

“Detective Sawyer, it’s nice to finally meet you.” She reaches out and shakes Maggie’s hand once.

Maggie shoots a quizzical look at Alex. “You know about me?”

Lucy can’t resist just a little teasing. “Big Brother is always watching.”

Maggie looks alarmed for about half a second before Alex scoffs. She rolls her eyes at Lucy and leans in towards Maggie slightly.

“We wear body cams, she was watching when we raided the warehouse last night.”

Maggie hums and nods. She shoots Lucy a polite smile and turns back to survey the crowd with the same sort of focused precision Lucy sees in Alex.

A match made in heaven.

The little goblin in her head makes itself known again and that’s how she knows that she needs a glass of wine and probably a nap. Alex doesn’t make friends easily. Her only friends being her sister, her sisters friends, and her bosses. So anyone new in Alex’s life should be a cause for celebration.

Lucy just can’t manage to silence that stupid little goblin.

“Anything?” Maggie asks Alex, and she responds with a slight shake of her head.

“Seems pretty calm. Hopefully we can get this thing signed without any explosions.”

Maggie chuckles, her smile growing wide enough to show off two perfect little dimples, and now both her _and_ Alex are staring.

“So you’re the boss?” It takes a moment for Lucy to realise that Maggie is talking to her. Her eyes are still scanning the crowd, focused and deliberate.

“One of them.” Lucy answers, raising an eyebrow at Maggie.

“Shame.” Maggie murmurs. “Here I was thinking Danvers might actually have friends.”

Alex’s jaw goes slack and she narrows her eyes at Maggie. “Rude.”

“Busting into warehouses with rocket launchers and pulling your gun on first instinct aren’t usually the best ways to make friends.” Maggie laughs, and the twinkle in her eye says she might find those qualities in Alex a little more alluring than she’s letting on.

“Yeah well, you’d be right.” Alex rolls her eyes. “The universe decided to stick me with the worst best friend in the universe.”

Lucy grins unapologetically. “You love me, Danvers.”

“Yeah, when hell freezes over.” Alex grumbles back. 

Maggie watches the interaction with an expression Lucy can’t quite decipher. It looks a little amused, maybe intrigued. She doesn’t really get the chance to figure it out when Maggie meets her eyes and raises an eyebrow. She shrugs cheekily, grin still plastered on her face. Before she can think of something to quip back a hush falls over the crowd.

The President arrives on scene, walking with purpose up onto the little makeshift stage. She looks professional, and kind. Regal almost, and Lucy lets out a low whistle.

“Damn.” She mutters, and she doesn’t realise she spoke maybe a little too loudly when Maggie lets out a low chuckle from the other side of Alex.

“Damn indeed.”

Alex’s head swings back and forth between them, but Maggie is already distracted watching the fringes of the crowd, and Lucy refuses to look up and deal with the look on Alex’s face. Not right now, at least. She needs some time after last night to figure out how she’s supposed to deal with this.

President Marsdin starts her speech. She’s just barely managed to get her hands on a pen and start signing the order when a fireball hits the stage.

Lucy’s getting real sick of fireballs.

Alex gets eyes on the infernian first, and she shouts for Lucy to take the right while she goes left. Turning her coms on, she slips through the crowd unnoticed by the alien. For once she’s a little grateful for her height. Just as Alex and Lucy get level with her, the infernian throws another fireball and hits Kara square in the chest.

Lucy can’t even get her sigh out before Alex starts firing, She only gets three bullets out before fireball is fired directly at her. The force knocks her straight into the fountain and, thankfully, the water immediately extinguishes her clothes. Lucy only manages a few shots before she gets blasted as well.

Lucy manages to right herself just in time to see Maggie press her gun to the aliens shoulder and make some quippy remark that Lucy would have never expected from her. Alex maybe, but not someone who comes across as cool and suave like Detective Sawyer does.

The alien hits the gun with her laser vision, and Maggie drops it with a hiss. The Infernian lets out a shout of rage as she grabs Maggie’s hand and shoots fire from her hands as she spins in a circle. It looks kind of dumb, like she’s trying to be a firebender from Avatar. If Lucy couldn’t feel mild burns all over her body she might even laugh. When the fire dissipates, both Maggie and the Infernian are gone, and the urge to laugh is gone.

Kara speeds over to Alex, still smouldering after putting herself out. She helps Alex to her feet and out of the fountain before speeding over to Lucy to do the same. They’re both dripping wet, and their clothes are slightly singed but they could have come out worse.

“You alright?” Kara asks the both of them, and Alex gives her a grim look. She takes a second to glance around, and she looks a little panicked. Lucy realises she hadn’t have seen the firebending.

“Where’s Maggie?” She asks, panic reflected in her tone.

Kara shrugs, turning in a circle and squinting. Scanning through the nearby structures.

“I can’t see her.”

Lucy clears her throat. “The infernian took her.”

Alex’s panic seems to only increase. Her eyes scan the area repeatedly, looking for any sign of where they might have gone, but if Kara hadn’t picked anything up it’s unlikely that Alex’s human eyes will catch anything, no matter how highly trained.

“Shit.” Alex mutters.

* * *

Alex scares the shit out of twelve agents before Lucy manages to bundle her into a conference room and slam the door shut behind them.

She points an accusing finger at Alex. “You need to calm down.”

“I am calm.” Alex glares at her, and all Lucy can really do is laugh. Alex’s whole body is radiating tension. It’s only been an hour since they Maggie was taken, but they’re already struggling for leads on where to find her.

“You’re not calm. Which is fine, but less scaring the shit out of rookie agents.”

Alex rolls her eyes. “Yes, _Director.”_

The tone is mocking, and Lucy is really going to have to sit down and have a word with her body for reacting the way it just did in a situation like this. She forces back a shudder and reaches out to unfurl Alex’s fists.

“If you want to find Sawyer, you have to make sure your anger doesn’t blind you.” Lucy tells her quietly. Her words have some effect at least, and Alex seems to lose a little bit of her tension.

“You’re so worked up,” Lucy jokes. “You replacing me?”

She scoffs and rolls her eyes first, but then Alex’s eyes go soft as she pulls Lucy into her side for a hug.

“Never.” She promises. “Besides, Sawyer is short but not as short as you. There isn’t as much pay off on my jokes.”

Lucy shoves her.

* * *

After all of Alex’s anger, it only takes Winn a couple of minutes to get his hands on the security footage of the event, and then barely another thirty seconds to get a still of the Infernian.

“I know her.” Alex steps forward. “Print that out.”

Winn hits print, hands the photo over to her and gets halfway through asking where she knows the alien from before Alex has turned on her heel to march away from the control room. J’onn, Winn, Kara and Vasquez all watch her go before their eyes relocate to Lucy.

Lucy glances at them all. “No. I followed her last time.”

J’onn raises his eyebrows. Lucy groans.

“You owe me big time, J’onzz.” She points an accusing finger at him. He can barely hide his smirk. Even as she jogs away, already unable to see Alex, she can hear Winn snickering behind her as well. She’s going to make them pay one of these days.

Alex is already screeching off on her Ducati when Lucy finally makes it down to the garage, and she barely makes it onto one of the DEO bikes to follow her. She almost loses Alex twice, but finally catches up when she pulls over into a dank alley.

Kicking the stand down and ripping the keys from the bike, Alex doesn’t even bother locking her helmet down. She just hangs it on the handlebars and stalks towards the almost hidden door at the end of the alley.

“Alex!” She calls after her, but if Alex hears her she ignores her. She roughly slams open the rusty metal door and stalks inside. Cursing her short legs, she chases after Alex, picking her abandoned helmet up on the way.

Lucy realises she doesn’t even know where she is. She hesitates at the door, but a loud crash from inside forces her inside. She realises quickly that it’s the bar, the one Sawyer had taken Alex to.

Alex is leaning against the bar near a guy with a long beard. From far away he looks pretty much human, but Lucy knows that doesn’t mean much here. She’s made inside just in time to watch Alex’s patience run out. She has the audacity to glance at Lucy briefly, eyes calculating before she turns back and slams the guys forehead into the bar before pushing him back so that he collapses onto the floor.

Lucy doesn’t have time to even hope that’s where Alex will leave it. She has the bars of a bar stool pressed into the guys neck a moment later, threatening him quite loudly.

“Is your memory good now, or does it need more jogging?”

“Y-you’re crazy.” The guy chokes out. He’s not wrong.

“That woman kidnapped Maggie Sawyer. A woman that risks her life every day fighting for your rights. She cares about what happens to you. The least you could do is return the favour.” Alex spits at him. It’s vehement, and passionate, and more like something you would hear from a lifelong friend. Not someone who had known Sawyer for all of a few days.

Before the still defiant looking man can dig himself any deeper, the woman behind the bar pipes up. She’s holding a glass and a rag in one hand, and the printed photo of the Infernian in her other having picked it up from the bar when Alex started laying into the guy.

“Hey, I know her.”

Alex looks up, still pressing her weight onto the bar stool so her captive can’t escape.

“She hangs out down by the foundry.”

Without even a thanks, Alex straightens up. She removes the bar stool from the guy’s throat and drops next to his head. She’s facing away from her, but Lucy knows the exact cocky smirk on Alex’s face right now. She’s proven correct a second later when Alex turns and stalks straight past her.

If Lucy ends up rolling her eyes one more time today, she’s sure her eyes are going to fall out. And she’s pretty sure the bar stool is broken.

“Thanks.” Lucy calls to the bartender. “And she’ll be back to pay for that.”

The bartender chuckles and Lucy thinks she might have heard a thanks thrown after her as she leaves. As she exits, she sees Alex standing impatiently by her bike. Lucy still has her helmet.

Alex tries to snatch it back when Lucy gets close enough, but Lucy yanks it out of reach.

“What the hell, Danvers?” Lucy demands. “What happened to being calm?”

Alex stares her down. “The longer we wait, the more likely Maggie is going to get hurt so can we save the lecture for after she’s safe?”

The fire in her eyes and the fight in her stance makes Lucy back down. She knows she can’t win this one, but if she plays it right then at least she can get on for the ride and hopefully keep Alex from getting killed.

She hands over Alex’s helmet. “I’ll be on your six.”

Alex eyes her carefully.

“Well hurry up.” Lucy waves her towards her bike, then makes her way to her own. “And turn your fucking headset on and radio for Supergirl to join us.”

Alex grins, pulling her helmet over her head. “Yes, Director.”

Lucy sighs. _Asshole._

* * *

Kara meets them at the foundry, landing with a thump next Alex’s bike.

“The building at the end of the street. She’s tied to a pipe running along the far wall of the building.” Kara informs them. Alex sets off without a word, and Kara glances over at Lucy in confusion. Lucy just shrugs and rolls her eyes.

“I don’t know.” She says. “I’m just following her around so she doesn’t get herself killed.”

Kara grimaces. “Thanks.”

Lucy laughs, and she and Kara jog briskly after Alex. Thankfully she is waiting for the pair of them by the door, tapping her foot impatiently.

“Kara and I will distract her,” Alex starts. She turns to Lucy, holding out her tactical knife. “You sneak around the edge and cut her down.”

Lucy thinks about pulling rank for a second and having Alex go and cut Maggie down instead of making herself a target, but with little time to spare and Alex’s stubbornness, she decides she’d better just run with it. She accepts the knife with a nod and follows closely after Alex as she cracks the door of the foundry and slips inside.

She can hear the Infernian monologuing already. What the hell is it with villains and monologuing? Maggie is tied with her hands above her head. It’s making her Henley ride up and show off just a sliver of her stomach.

She’s really having trouble shutting off the gay side of her brain these days.

Creeping along the edge of the foundry, Lucy makes her way around so that she is just behind Maggie, covered by some barrels and other rusted debris. She only has to wait for a moment, as Kara comes crashing through the roof to land in her classic superhero pose.

Lucy hopes this building is actually abandoned so she doesn’t have to pay to repair yet another hole in another roof.

The infernian creeps closer to Kara, still ranting on and on about the Amnesty act like she thinks anyone actually cares. But with her eyes on Kara, Lucy has the room to creep closer to Maggie. She sneaks up behind her and puts a hand on her shoulder. Maggie starts slightly, but relaxes when she swivels to find Lucy.

“My hero.” Maggie grins, but there is an overwhelming tone of gratitude in her tone. Lucy scoffs and reaches up to cut her down.

“I’m just along for the ride. You can thank Danvers for going full rogue and almost busting up some dude in that alien bar to find you.”

Maggie gets a weird look on her face. Lucy finally gets through the thick rope, and her Maggie’s arms drop. She rolls her shoulders a few times and flexes her wrists as she pulls unwinds them.

“Danvers is here?” Maggie asks, right as Alex appears from their left and starts shooting at the Infernian. Why she thought that would do any good after earlier today, Lucy has no idea. Though if she had to make a guess, she’d say Alex is probably trying to get attention off of Kara. Again.

The infernian shoves her to the side and she loses the gun, but it’s given Kara enough time to recover and return. She starts flying circles at super speed around the infernian, choking out her flames.

“Huh, smart.” Lucy murmurs.

“You sound surprised.” Maggie raises an eyebrow.

Lucy rolls her eyes. “Don’t ask.”

The infernian falls to the ground, choking and spluttering. Kara stops speeding around her and floats over to land by Alex. They do their ritual hug and check in to make sure the other is okay, and both of them completely miss the infernian crawling towards Alex’s dropped firearm.

Lucy is going to have her ass for this.

But like some guardian angel, Maggie appears out of nowhere, Lucy hadn’t even noticed her leave, and puts her boot down on the gun. When the infernian looks up at her with a snarl, she swings the pipe – where the fuck did she get that pipe – in her hand and knocks her out cold.

She glances up at Kara and Alex and grins, letting out a large breath.

“You guys are fun.”

A moment of wide eyed stares and gaping mouths turns into chuckling, which then turns into full blown laughing. Lucy makes her way over to them all and waits until Alex has caught her breath to reach up and smack her around the back of the head.

“Leave your firearm on the ground like that again I’ll have you running drills with the greenies until you puke.”

Alex scowls at her, rubbing the back of her head.

“Yes, Director.” She mocks.

She’s really got to stop saying that.

“Let’s head back to the DEO.” Lucy sighs. “We can get you patched up, Sawyer.”

Lucy sends Kara back to the DEO first, flying with the now cuffed and still unconscious infernian thrown haphazardly over her shoulder. Then the three of them all walk back out to where Lucy and Alex had left their bikes.

Lucy turns around, walking backwards so she can talk to Alex and Maggie.

“Your choice is riding bitch with me, or riding bitch with Alex.” She says. Maggie chuckles and sizes them both up with exaggerated glances up and down.

“How am I supposed to choose?” She jokes. “You’re both such fine choices.”

The tips of Alex’s ears turn red, and Lucy would probably feel a little jealous if she wasn’t feeling a little flustered by the flirting herself.

“I’ll make it easier.” Alex says, finally finding her voice after a few short moments. “The standard DEO issue bike or my Ducati?”

They’ve reached the bikes now, and Maggie glances between the two bikes once before shooting Lucy an apologetic but snarky smile.

“Sorry Lane.”

“You don’t sound sorry.” Lucy snarks back.

Maggie shrugs. “It’s a Ducati.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Lucy rolls her eyes. “I’ll see you both back at the DEO.”

She turns away, heading towards her own bike. Maggie and Alex snark back and forth a bit as Alex digs out her spare helmet. Lucy is already on her bike, reaching for her helmet when she turns back and sees it.

It happens almost in slow motion. Alex is holding the helmet out for Maggie, and Maggie is reaching for it with wide excited eyes. As she grabs hold of it, their hands must touch, their fingers brush together, just a glimpse. But it’s enough. Both of them jump back like they’ve been electrocuted, and they both look down at their own hands in shock.

A string.

Lucy’s stomach drops.

_Shit._


End file.
